LONDON The 2012 Olympic pools are to be heated using renewable energy, in moves to “reduce the carbon footprint of the Olympic Park as far as possible”.

Mini hydroelectric schemes, solar panels, wind turbines and woodchip-fuelled boilers will appear at the park in Stratford as developers work to stage a green Olympics. Some of the buildings will have thermal-mass walls.

David Higgins, head of the Olympic Delivery Authority, is expected this month to double to 20 per cent the authority’s commitment on the proportion of energy that should come from renewable sources. It is claimed that many of the initiatives will be cost-neutral and that other expenses have already been accounted for. The private sector is expected to pick up the capital costs of the wind turbines and some other energy projects, which will be leased to the authority.

The pools will be linked to a combined cooling, heating and power plant supplying the site. Fired by gas, it will be more energy-efficient than using the national grid, and itself is estimated to cut carbon emissions by 25 per cent. It will be supplemented by a biomass boiler, which heats water using organic matter.

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